


Faith, Trust, and... Romance?

by allielee2014



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 06:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3967138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allielee2014/pseuds/allielee2014
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Regina went into the little pub that night when Tinkerbell told her about The Man with the Lion Tattoo?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith, Trust, and... Romance?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the absolutely stunningly amazing wondergirl92 on tumblr. Happy Birthday!!

“You didn’t go inside!?” The little blonde fairy flitted about the room, her body language alone and her tone was enough to show Regina that the fairy was not happy.

“No.” Regina replied flatly 

“Why not.” The fairy stopped her flying, waved her hand, and was the same size as Regina in moments.

“I didn’t-” 

“Want to be happy?” Tinkerbell crossed her arms, and bit on her lip.

“No I do, but I-”

“Don’t want to meet your soulmate?” The blonde circled around Regina.

“Stop that, of course I wanted to meet him.” Regina waved out an arm, annoyed by the intimidating way this Tinkerbell moved.

“Then why didn’t you go in?” She stopped pacing when she was in front of Regina. “You had the chance, Regina, to be happy, to meet your true love. Why did you deny yourself-and him- that opportunity?”

“How was I to know that what you told me was true? That he was my soulmate?”

“Pixie dust never lies.”

“Okay… So, what was I supposed to do?” Something in Regina’s eyes took on a fiery glare, and her hands flourished as she spoke, her voice becoming faster and faster with each word. “Was I supposed to walk in that tavern and say something like ‘Hi, I’m Regina, I know you don’t know me, but I’m destined to be your one true love and soulmate.” She scoffed, “He’d think I was insane, and then if he were to ask how I knew, what would I tell him? ‘Oh, some crazy fairy-no offense- sprinkled some pixie dust to show me my soulmate because I had a broken heart after my mother killed my former fiancé. She says you’re my soulmate because you have a lion tattooed on you arm. Tinkertell-”

“Bell”

“Whatever you name is,” Regina started, rushed to finish her sentence, “I don’t know why you’re so wrapped up in finding my soulmate. I do appreciate it, and you seem very kind, but I don’t think I’m going to-”

“He’s going to be at the tavern again tonight.” Tinkerbell grabbed Regina’s arm, “Please,” Her voice was near desperate, “Just go with me, and actually go in this time, and if you don’t like him once you give him a chance, I’ll leave you alone forever. Just go with me tonight, meet your soulmate, and then I’ll leave you alone forever if that’s what you want.”

Regina felt a little uncomfortable, she did not fully trust this fairy under any circumstances, and it seemed very suspicious that she was so concerned with her. How was Regina any different than anyone else? Why was Tinkerbell so into her? One night couldn’t hurt though, and what was the harm in talking to the guy? He had looked quite handsome, she’d noted as she had gazed through the tavern windows, and there was no harm in talking to him. She didn’t have to tell him he was her ‘soulmate’, she didn’t even believe that herself. She could never love anybody like she had loved Daniel.

“Alright.” Regina accepted, before she had comprehended herself that she had said the word,”I’ll go with you tonight, that’s it though.”

“Thank you!” The blonde woman shrieked, and clutched Regina’s hand. “You won’t regret it!”

“Mmmm.” Regina managed a soft sound of agreement, her teeth gritted as she nodded and forced an uneasy smile. 

Why had she let the fairy talk her into this? It was a bad idea, through and through, there was no good way this could end. Well, unless when she sat down and spoke to this mysterious ‘man with the tattoo of a lion’ something magical happened and she found herself smitten and head over heels in lo-no. There was no good way this would end. Regina didn’t know tis man, he could be absolutely awful, and she had entrusted pixie dust to find him. He could be a total abomination for all she knew. Odds are he wouldn’t find her appealing anyways, not in any sense of the word. She wasn’t what most men would consider beautiful, mostly because she lacked the confidence that can make one such, and she was too awkward and young to know how to speak to a man that she might have an interest in. Not that she would, she had known from the moment she and Daniel had shared their first kiss that she would never love another man as she had loved him. And she knew no one could ever love her as Daniel had. In a sense, it was comforting, and in another, it was sad and terrifying.

Her fingers ran through her dark locks, smoothing out her hair for when she would have to brush out her hair. Regina’s reflection caught her attention in the mirror, her smile seemed different, her eyes too. There was something light about them, something that sparkled with some newfound emotion. Hope, maybe? She had to shake herself out of it, no this going to the tavern tonight was simply to appease Tinkerbell. It would do nothing for her, she could never love again, love was weakness. Of all the things her mother had tried to tell her, that had been one of the most potent lessons. Even if she and this guy did happen to hit it off-which they wouldn’t- and fell ‘in love’, there was no way it could end well. Cora would eventually find out about her daughter’s new flame, Regina was certain of it, and when she did, she would find her way out of Wonderland just to come back and kill her daughter’s happiness- just as she had before. There was no use in even going tonight, Regina would never allow herself to become so vulnerable again, and she would never allow someone close enough to love her, she could never let another person have the same fate as Daniel had.

“He’s handsome.” Tinkerbell nudged Regina’s shoulder outside the tavern, the two young women had decided to glance through the window before entering the pub. 

“We can only see his profile.” Regina rolled her eyes, and Tinkerbell gave her a sideways smirk, “okay,” She admitted, a small smile found her lips, “So, maybe he does have quite a handsome profile.” A nervous giggle escaped her throat, she hadn’t had time to stop it.

“Just go in Regina, it’ll do you good.” Tinkerbell somehow was able to sense the uncertainty in Regina’s body language, she was somehow able to tell that Regina had begun to have her doubys once more.

“I can’t.” Her eyes, were on the man in the tavern, he was seted at the counter and was nursing a beer. 

“Why not.” 

Regina was silent a moment, the gears in her mind turned, yet her mouth would not allow any of her thoughts to become verbal.

“Why not?” Tinkerbell demanded, once again. 

It took Regina a few seconds to speak, with much hesitation, but when she did, her words were nothing short of honest. “How could I? Twinklebell-”

“Tinker”, the blonde corrected once more.

“Tinkerbell,” Somehow, Regina was able to control her voice and make it sound calm and collected. “I can’t. I don’t know what you know about me or my mother or my former fiance-”

“I know what’s on your mind, Regina. You’re scared. You're afraid of your mother and you're afraid of yourself and Daniel."

"Daniel is dead." Regina breathed, "and my mother is in Wonderland now."

"You feel that if you allow yourself to love again, even just to flirt with a guy, you'd be betraying Daniel." 

Regina nodded skeptically, that was how she felt, she had never voiced those thoughts to anyone before. How did faires do that?

"And you're afraid that, if you could somehow get over that guilt and allow yourself to fall for someone, your mother would find her way back to you." Tinkerbell paused, noting the anxiousness in Regina's eyes. "You're afraid she'd crush the life out of your next flame, just as she did Daniel, if she didn't approve."

"How... How did you know all that?" Regina hadn't meant to ignore the other woman's question, but she had to know, and couldn't find the words to say anything else.

"I'm a fairy." Tinkerbell replied flatly, "we kind of know this sort of thing." Regina's empty gaze told Tinkerbell that the brunette was still confused. "I have pixie dust, you know, magic. It allows me a lot of insight."

Regina nodded, it made sense now. Honestly, she should've known. Why had she even asked in the first place? 

"Go, Regina, you need to do this."

" I can't."

"Yeah you can, what's the worst that could happen?"

Regina shot Tinkerbell a glance, if looks could kill. The fairy understood, and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, trust me. Faith, trust, pixie dust-you know how it goes." 

Regina gave a weak smile, she'd never really been too fond of these creatures, but Tinkerbell was had somehow grown on her.

"Okay." She giggled faintly, and squeezed Tinkerbell's hand, "here I go." 

As she opened the door to the tavern, Regina's heart caught in her chest. This was too much activity for today. She could just as easily go back to her home and tell Tinkerbell to leave her alone and, that while she appreciated what she had intended to do for her, she was content with where she was in life. In a moment of carelessness, Regina's eyes darted back toward Tinkerbell. Shit, she was still there. If, for whatever reason, she had left, Regina would slammed the tavern door and bolted in the other direction. She would've-

"May I assist you, Miss?" A voice, coarse but not quite unfriendly forced her to look up. To Regina's relief, the owner of the voice was a man, easily in his early 60s, with grey hair and a slight frame. He had a few teeth missing, and Regina figured it was safe to assume he'd spent a good deal of his life in this place.

"Um..." She stammered, standing on the tips of her toes to peer over the older man's shoulder, "no, I'm good, thank you though." Regina flashed her best fake smile, something she had become quite good at in her years as being a princess in training. 

The man eyes her suspiciously, " you seem harmless enough." He grumbled. "Either come in or stay out, I can't have you letting my customers catch the chill outside simply because you want to stand here all night.

"I'm sorry." Regina answered, more apologetically than was actually necessary, and stepped forward. With one final glance over her shoulder to Tinkerbell, who clapped her hands and waved like a proud mother, Regina pulled the door closed behind her.

Her feet had carried her across the tavern floor, men laughed and hooted over some drunken amusement all around her, and before she knew it, Regina was merely feet away from this man that was supposedly her 'soulmate.' 

Slowly, Regina reached out her arm. She went to tap the man on the shoulder, but had to stop when her breath hitched in her throat. Come on, she could do this. With a swift motion, her hand poked his shoulder, and was back at her side. 

The man turned around, and Regina was almost certain her jaw had went slack. He was even more handsome than she ever could've imagined from his profile she'd seen at the window. Dark hair, a strong jawline, sparkling eyes, and a somewhat goofy smile, what was there to not find attractive on this man? Regina was sure she had blushed, and was probably giving one of those smiles that teenage girls give the boys they find cute. 

"Hi, may I do something for you?" His voice was just as intriguing as his looks, strong and confident with an accent from some other land. 

"Is this seat taken?" She managed to ask, her hand gently touching the barstool beside him.

"No." The man's face lit up, as he stood and pulled the stool out, he made a bow gesture as Regina seated herself. "What's your name?" He asked, after he'd pushed Regina's stool in, and situated himself back upon his seat.

"Regina." She replied, almost too readily, and her fingers absently played with a piece of her dark hair. "What about you?"

"I'm Robin." He extended his hand, and Regina followed his lead. Regina had to admit, she was a little surprised when Robin brought her hand to his lips and gave it a gentle peck. When he released her hand he asked, quite seriously, "so, Regina, what's a lovely lady such as yourself doing in a place like this?" His eyes somehow connected with hers immediately.

"It's kind of a long story," Regina scoffed with an attempt at a giggle.

"Well, I've got all the time in the world." Robin smiled, and Regina mirrored his face with her own. How about I buy you a drink, and you can tell me all about it?" 

"Oh please, don't tell me you'd be that ridiculous." Regina's smile grew, "how about you let me get you a drink, and we can go from there?" She snapped her fingers, and a mug of beer and a glass of wine appeared before them. 

"How?" Robin's eyes were wide,

"Just a little something I've learned. Why should either of us buy drinks when I can get us some like this?" 

"Well, I wasn't expecting that, I like your point though." Robin picked up the mug, "so, Regina, tell me why you're here tonight?" 

There was no way Regina would actually tell him about Tinkerbell and her pixie dust-or how it had declared them soulmates. For now, Regina decided, she would just talk to this Robin as she would any other man. If romance were to blossom once they got to know one another, well she'd accept it. At that moment, though, Regina just wanted to talk and get to know this man with the lion tattoo. This handsome man. This man with the kindness and humor she already adored.

Yes, something in Regina's stomach stirred,  
Tinkerbell had been right about something. Sure it might take some time to get to know him, but Regina knew that this was the man who would make her love once again.


End file.
